Cell-door-locking mechanism.



APPLIOATION I'ILED J'AI. 10, 1907.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911;

J. H. VAN DO-RN. 1 CELL DOOR LOOKING MECHANISM. APPLIOAT1011 211.211 111 1.10, 1007. 981 ,-037. Patented Jan.1'0,1911.

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JAMES H. VAN DORN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE VAN DORN IRON WORKS COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CELL-DOOR-LOCKING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. January 10, 1907.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

Serial No. 351,666.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, J AMES H. VAN Donn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cell-Door-Locking Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

It is ordinary in jail construction to arrange the cells in rows or tiers, and to provide each door with a lock, usually and preferably a spring lock, which, when a cell door is shut, will automatically lock the same, but which is capable of being unlocked by a key. It is also customary to provide mechanism whereby all. of the doors in a tier may be simultaneously unlocked or released from restraint, so that they may act as described,said means being commonly operable from a station, at the end of the tier, to which prisoners do not have access. Moreover, it usually is possible to separately deadlock the various locks by means of keys. This, however, is an inconvenient way of doing it; and, which is of more importance, it is not always an effective way, because prisoners very frequently find a way of opening key-controlled locks, provided they can get access thereto. g

This invention has for its primary object the provision of means, associated with a tier of cells, whereby all the locks of the cells in that tier may be simultaneously dead-locked,-said means being additionally of such character that they may be operated from a station to which prisoners do not have access, and may be there locked in any of the various positions.

Another object is to so combine the dead locking mechanism with means for locking and unlocking all of the locks of a tier of cells, so that a single operative device controls all of said operations.

Another desirable characteristic of the construction shown is that a part of the lock controlling mechanism is utilized to support the sliding cell doors.

The invention may be here summarized as consisting of the combinations of parts hereinafter described and pointed out definitely in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of two (and part of the third) cells of a tier. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the mechanism atthe end of said tier by which the locks of all of the cell doors may be operated. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of said mechanism; Fig. L is a bottom plan of the lock box associated with the mechanism shown in Figs. 2 and 3; and Fig. 5 is a small sectional side view in the plane of line 5-5 on Fig. 1..

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the front wall of a tier of cells.

B B represent sliding cell doors. Each of these doors is for closing a door opening through said wall; and is provided at its upper end with hanger plates 6 carrying a pair of rollers b which ride on the top of a horizontal bar D. This bar is located above said door openings, and extends from one end of the row of cells to the other, and is parallel with the said front wall. This bar is pivoted to the upper ends of a plurality of lever arms 0, which are pivoted to said front wall; wherefore the bar may move endwise when said lever arms are rocked. Projecting forward from said front wall are the vertical flanges a, a,two of which are associated wit-h each cell door, and are located close to that vertical edge of the door opening toward which the door moves in the closing. Between each pair of these flanges a, a vertically movable self closing latch bolt N is mounted,-said bolt having on its lower end a beveled catch (Z of the usual form. Eachcell door has secured to its edge a looking bar Z), which, when the door is closed, passes through a vertical slot a in one of the flanges a into locking engagement with said latch bolt. To the upper end of each of these latch bolts a pin 42. is secured, which pin goes through a vertical slot 6 in an adjustable link E, the upper end of said link being pivotally connected with the horizontal arm 0 of a bell crank lever C,-the vertical arm 0 of which serves, as before explained, as one of the supports of the bar D. This bar D also passes through vertical slots (4 in all of the flanges a a. Itis evident that if this bar'l) be moved to the ri 'ht, as shown in Fig. 1, it will rock all of these bell crank levers C, and thereby all of the latch 'bolts N will be lifted out of engagement wit-h the lock bars on the doors. If this bar be moved a suitable distance to the left, all of these spring latch bolts will be permitted to descend for engagement with the lock bars on the several doors. This latch N may be the latch of any suitably constructed keyoperated lock, which lock is pins n on the latch bolts N.

conventionally shown in the drawing.

When, however, it is desired to dead lock all of the cell doors, the bar D is moved still farther to the left. The result will be that the links E will move down until the upper ends of their slots 6 come in contact with the These bolts are therefore dead locked. That is to say, it

is impossible to move either'of them in the bolts to be severally raised.

, ceives a pin 9 on one arm of a rocker G pivoted on a vertical pivot to a horizontal plate F secured to the end of the end cell of the tier,this rocker having on one arm a gear segment g which is engaged by a pinion h. This pinion is secured to the top of a vertical shaft H, the lower end of which is mounted in a lock box J. It has secured to it, just above said box, a handle K by means of which it may be turned, and a plate It in which are three bolt holes or slots 71: which 'are adapted to receive the upper end of the bolt M shown in dotted lines of a lock which :is inclosed in said box,this box being secured to the end wall of the end cell below be the bolt of any suitable sort of a lock, such, for example, as;

this shaft. The bolt may are in common use in that is to say, atedby a key.

A longitudinally movable bar P is a de' 5 sirable adjunct to the described mechanism. It is parallel to and located above bar D, and is slidable lengthwise through slots in the vertical flanges a. On thisbar are the d dl t nded fingers p which are severally adapted to engage with the upper I ends of the doors,

carried to the end of the tier of will be closed when said bar P is moved far enough to the right. Some means, as a rope It may be secured to said bar P and may be cells so that the attendant who operates the bar D and its for moving bar -because when anycell door is opened, it will associated mechanism may also operate it.

No means are shown and none are required P in the contrary direction,

so move said bar.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. The combination of a row of cells, their .doors, and vertically movable locking bolts jail construction, a lock capable of being oper so that all of the doors which are severally associated with the cell doors, bell crank levers which are severally associated with said locking bolts, an adj ustable link connection between one arm of each lever and the associated locking bolt, a horizontal bar pivotally connected with the substantially vertical arms of all of said bell crank levers, door hangers secured to the several doors, and wheels mounted in said hangers riding upon said bar, and means for moving said bar endwise.

2. In a prison-door locking mechanism, the combination of a series of cells with door openingson a common corridor, a pair of vertical parallel flanges projecting from the wall on the jamb side of each door opening, an endwise-reciprocable bar extending above all of the doors of the series and passing through guide apertures in said flanges, a door for each cell supported at its top and independently slidable on said reciprocable bar, a hooked lug on the door adapted to pass through an aperture in one of said vertical flanges, a vertically movable bolt mounted between said flanges and adapted to engage the said hooked lug, a cross pin on said bolt and a bell crank lever, the horizontal arm of which passes through a guide slot in one of said vertical flanges and has a slot connection with the pin on said bolt whereby the bolt may be raised independently of the lever arm, the upright arm of said lever being pivotally connected to the reciprocal bar, with means for reciprocating said bar, andmeans for looking it against movement.

3. The combination of a row of cells, their doors, and locking bolts, individual mechanisms for locking said bolts, a horizontally movable bar operatively connected with all of said locking mechanisms, which bar extends beyond the row of cells, an operating device for moving said bar, comprising a horizontal lever pivotally connected at one end to the bar and having ageared segment formed at its other end, a pinion engaging said segment, and a vertical shaft carrying said pinion, with means for locking said shaft in any one of three several positions against rotation.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto ailix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

J AMES H. VAN DOB-N.

lVitnesses E. B. GILCHRIST, H. R. SULLIVAN. 

